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I’m amazed when I see the places writers write, which is funny because I’m a writer. Even still. I expect something more magical than a sparse room, a table and on top of it, a typewriter. I expect perhaps, a more nurturing environment, maybe a flower on the table, a few cushions, the smell of coffee floating in the air. What makes me think of this is that someone recently posted a picture on Facebook of a famous writer’s writing room. It wasn’t much. It made me think of all her stories that were created in that tiny room, on that small typewriter, whole worlds spun out from it and touched the universe. It seems even stranger somehow than seeing a where a writer writes to see a writer writing, as if you’ve caught them naked. When it comes down to it, writing is an utterly solitary activity, often done best when alone. There’s nothing glamorous about a person sitting alone at a desk, watching words as they spill across paper, or a screen. But we like to make it so. One of my favorite authors, Heather Lende, posted recently on her personal website a picture of her writing desk, which appears wooden, and looks onto an Alaskan beach. It’s covered in neon Post-It notes. This made me very happy. I too use Post-It notes, sticking them around my computer and wherever else there’s room. Without them I’d be, well, lost. It made me feel that in some very small, small way, I share something in common with Heather Lende’s writing habits.